


Phantom meets the team

by Hikato_chan



Category: Danny Phantom, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Batman is mentioned, Danny is actually the older one, Dick and Danny are brothers, Gen, Ghost King Danny, I don't think it counts, also, also i should add the other team mates since they do actually have a role in this, but i think i will manage to make it sad sooner or later, but i'm not finished yet, but main characters are still just danny and dick, danny's deaths are vaguely described, i think, minor off screen character death, should i tag danny as mayor character death?, the rest of the team is mentioned - Freeform, this is set in season 1, this is supposed to be mostly lighthearted, vague descriptions of injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2019-10-22 05:14:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 15,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17656580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hikato_chan/pseuds/Hikato_chan
Summary: It's been a year since he died...Or alternatively: The one in which Danny and Dick are brothers, Danny is the ghost king and he kinda meets the team.Ideas appreciated!





	1. King Phantom

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo, these are kinda small one shots, and i would really appreciate ideas since i didn't read the comic set in the five years in between, so i am kinda stuck....

It had been some time since he had died, a year actually, but it was so much longer in his realm than it was on earth. It may have only been one human year since he had died and become king, but it had been around a hundred in the infinite realm. Not that he wasn’t at fault, it had been him who had sped the time in the infinite realm up even more than it had been to learn to be a good king without any human distractions.

There were of course the times that he went to the human realm, that he slowed the time down significantly so that he wouldn’t miss too much. Most of his trips were to collect souls that were unable to move to the regeneration cycle and be reborn, but some of the trips were solely to watch over friends and family. The knowledge that he was in the ‘ghost zone’ had allowed them to move on, though only partially. He never went to talk to anybody in Amity Park though. With the exemption of Vlad, but he didn’t count since he was one of his citizens as well.

Another person he visited occasionally was his brother, but he couldn’t muster up the courage to talk to him. How do you tell someone that you are their dead brother?

Well, for now he gathered his courage slowly and did his job in the meantime.

-

Artemis and Zatanna turned to the little girl who smiled at them a bit. At their feet was the little girls Brother, and the one who killed her. Suddenly though, Zatanna tensed and turned right, unknowingly staring at the same place as the little ghost girl was staring. A being flickered into existence.

He looked young, barely around fifteen, but his eyes looked ancient. He wore an outfit seemingly fit for a king, together with a white cape and a blue icy crown. He smiled at Artemis and Zatanna before focusing on the young girl.

“Young Greta, I suppose you know who I am?”

She nodded.

“You have the choice now. Do you wish to come with me into the infinite realm and continue existing or do you wish to fade and be reborn? I can assure you that even if you become one of my citizens, you can still enter the cycle at any time.”

The girl seemed to think about it before smiling and taking a step towards him. He held out his hand and she took it.

Before they disappeared, he turned to them.

“Thank you.”

And they disappeared, leaving a stunned Artemis and a stuttering Zatanna who couldn’t believe that she had just met _the_ King Phantom.


	2. Dr. Fate

“- so I released his spirit to the afterlife. He is gone.”

Dr. fate hovered over them as he let them take in what he said. They had stopped the evil sorcerers, but at what cost? Just then before anything else could be said, a person flouted towards Dr. Fate.

“Nabu.” He called, letting the other turn to face the young King. The young King in turn ignored the ones under them tensing and stopped short in front of Nabu.

“Release her.”

“I will not.”

“She has my gratefulness, so as your King I tell you. Let go of her.”

“I am needed! I cannot just wait until someone deems it fit to call me again!”

“You **can** and you **will**. You yourself chose to lock yourself into this helmet! Have you forgotten who you are?! Taking a young child’s live because you get antsy, is that the right thing to do?”

“But-“

“No buts. They will call you if they need you, and they would call you more often if the chance of being **killed** by you wasn’t so high. Do not, and I repeat, do not ever possess anyone against their will ever again. Do you understand?”

“…Yes my king.”

With that Dr. Fate took of his helmet, leaving an exhausted Zatanna in his wake. Smiling down on them Phantom spoke up.

“Kent says hi.”

And with a small smile he disappeared again.


	3. Brothers

Robin walked around the circus train, frustrated. He knew Haly wouldn’t be involved in this mess, but how could he explain that to the team? He stopped walking at the sight of the old poster. The flying Grayson poster.

It was old, but just as well kept as all the others. He traced over the figures and smiled slightly. He still misses them so much. A noise behind him brought him out of his reverie.

“Hey.” The person said softly and Robin turned around to face him. He blinked and wondered distantly if nostalgia was playing tricks on him.

“Danny?” he questioned softly. The other nodded with a slightly sad smile, eyes drawn to the poster. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but couldn’t seem to find the words. It was familiar, comforting. So, Robin jumped forward and caught the other in a hug. It was promptly returned, a bit tighter than necessary.

“what are you doing here? How are you here?”

Robin had taken care to not try to figure out where his brother was. He wouldn’t have been able to stay away then. But still, that he was here confused him.

“I noticed that you were performing and thought I could come by and watch. And about how…”

He shifted a bit and Robin stepped back a bit to look at him.

“There’s something you are not telling me.”

Danny flinched and his hand went through his hair in a nervous tick. He was contemplating for a second, then just trying to find the right words. It worried Robin. Was his brother in trouble?

“Well…” Danny tried to start, then just blurted out, “I kinda died a year ago?”. He blinked, robin blinked.

“What.”

“I… died. In an accident. Became the… ghost king? It’s a really long story and I kinda have work to do…”

Robin looked at him. For a moment neither of them moved. Danny almost seemed scared. Robin was frozen. Then he slowly paled.

“You’re dead. I’m talking to a ghost.”

Danny nodded and Robins hands flew to his face, horrified. Danny hadn’t expected robin to believe him right away, but the pair never had any secrets between them. Robin knew Danny well enough to spot that he wasn’t lying. Now he truly was the only alive Grayson. It tore his heart into shreds.

“Oh god, oh god oh god oh god. You died. How are you even here??”

Danny was the one initiating the hug this time.

“I am powerful enough to come by if I want to. I’m the ghost king, remember? You have even met me before, at the whole fiasco with doctor fate. That was me, just not disguised as a human. And besides, did you actually think I wouldn’t come by to see my little brother perform? Granted, seeing you fight is cool too.”

It drew a broken chuckle from Robin, but that was all Danny had hoped to accomplish. He stepped back from the hug and noticed that Robin had stopped freaking out. He ruffled the younger boy’s hair with an easygoing grin.

“Well, I gotta go. Kingly duties. But I will be at your show this evening.”

And with that he disappeared, flickering from sight and leaving Robin to grumble about being way better at disappearing than that stupid ghost.

-

He really was at the show that evening.


	4. The wierd mission

The team’s mission that day was decidedly weird.

A girl had apparently figured out Batman’s identity and as a price to keep quiet, she had asked for the league magicians to summon someone for her. She had a summoning circle at the ready, as well as an incantation in a language that even the magicians couldn’t understand. The summoning would be held at the mountain, because of safety reasons.

And the team had to be there in case something went south.

The atmosphere was serious as the ritual was set up. The team was tense and nervous, except the fact that Robin was nervous for a different reason. He giggled. His team glanced at him warily.

But before anyone could say anything, the ritual was set up and both Zataras started chanting. The room grew cold, tense. It seemed darker. Frightening. The two magicians looked like they wished to stop, but they didn’t. The incantation ended and for a second there was nothing.

Then it grew even colder as blue mist swirled in the middle of the circle, slowly expanding. It formed a figure slowly, then a white cape behind him. When the mist finally manifested, King phantom was flouting in the summon circle.

The temperature went up again, the darkness lessened back to normal. Nobody dared to move as the King looked around. Finally it settled on the girl.

“Sam.” He addressed the girl. He held up a phone. “you could have just called.”. And the girl practically exploded.

“Are you serious?! You had a fricking phone the whole time?! I had to spend weeks to create this goddamn ritual, AND YOU HAVE A PHONE?!”

The people in the room weren’t sure what was more shocking. To see a young girl shout at the Ghost King, or to see him crackle in amusement. They heard Robin crackle silently too.

The king slowly flouted down towards the girl and took her phone, scrolling down the contacts and then stopping. He showed her the screen. She screeched in anger.

“My number was in your phone the entire time.”

At the back of the room Robin checked his phone to see that he had the contact in his phone too. It read ‘K DP best brother’ with a small ghost smiley. He texted it a small message and put it back.

‘When did you get my phone big bro’

He saw how the king replied but decided not to check it yet. The girl calmed down a bit and the king smiled softly at her.

“So why did you summon me?”

The girl took his hand and started pulling him, saying stuff about movies and stuff.

The team plus Batman and Zatara stared as the girl had apparently summoned him to force him out on a date. They collectively agreed that they did not want to speak of it again. Robin continued crackling in the distance.


	5. Stalking

In completely normal Bat-family fashion, Dick went to stalk Danny when he was seen in the human realm. Despite what they had thought, Danny wasn’t together with that Sam girl. Nor was he together with Valerie Gray, it seemed.

All meetings that dick stalked were normal meetings with friends for movies or bad food. Dick had the feeling that Danny knew he was there sometimes, even if he never acted on it.

Well he hadn’t acted on it up until now. Dick had went to Amity Park on a whim since he guessed Danny would be there, and was surprised when his brother tapped on his shoulder with a smile.

“Hey, do you wanna join me and my friends this time, you know, instead of stalking?”

Dick huffed.

“Being stalked from a member of my adopted family means that you are important you know.”

Danny smiled and Dick went with him. Without his glasses and with the hood down, they would have almost looked like twins, mused Dick. But he kept his disguise on. After all, what was Dick Grayson doing in Amity Park?

They walked in comfortable silence to the Nasty Burger, where Danny’s friends were waiting for him. They looked understandably confused about the extra company. Dick waved.

“Guys, this is my brother. I told you that I was adopted, right?”

Sam and Tucker nodded, Valerie looked confused.

“Well, he was in town so I told him he could hang out with us.”

They nodded again, Sam giving Dick a smile while Valerie looked at him warily. Tucker just looked like he wanted to go in already. They walked in slowly, the silence a bit awkward as they walked to the counter to order. Dick glanced at Danny.

“Anything here you can recommend? I don’t go out to eat often.”

Danny chuckled as he listed things that he could order and things he should never ever order. His friends threw in a few suggestions themselves, which lead to a discussion about vegan options. Dick felt right at home in that chaos. The actual ordering was just as chaotic. Dick smiled slightly.

When they all had what they wanted, they gathered around a table in the back, chattering about school and games. Dick held himself out of the conversation until Danny looked at him and started asking him questions. The whole conversation turned to him then.

“So, how is your adoptive family?”

He blinked.

“Bruce is okay, a bit awkward when it’s about emotions and affection, but he is trying. Alfred, who is kinda Bruce’s unofficial father and my unofficial grandfather is great though. I dunno what we would do without him.”

Sam looked at him calculating.

“You are Robin.”

The others at the table looked at her in shock while Dick just nodded.

“I would have thought you would have known already. I mean you threatened B with that information. Just to summon someone whose phone number you already had.”

Danny burst out laughing. Valerie and Tucker rolled their eyes. Sam hit Danny lightly when he wasn’t stopping and dick smiled at the sight. Sam turned to him when Danny finally quieted down.

“So, you know who he is, what he is?”

Dick rolled his eyes.

“Why exactly do you think I am in Amity Park? I heard that he died from him himself, I’m here to figure out what more I missed.”

He sighed and looked at them.

“I have to get back soon though.”

He sighed again. Danny smiled.

“You know, you can just write me and ask anything, right?”

Dick pouted and stuck his tongue out.

“Well yeah, but I wanted to figure stuff out myself! Like, for example that you were together with Sam but you split up again? Or that you hunted ghosts in your free time as phantom. There is a lot that I haven’t figured out yet, but asking you would really be cheating.”

Dick looked to his watch and then to the still uneaten burger.

“Well, I have to go. If I hurry, I might be able to eat my burger before I’m home.”

He waved goodbye and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo, this is everything I have written up until now, ideas for scenes would be really appreciated


	6. Amity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Pyrokinetik52 for the idea, hope you don't mind that i split it up a bit

Robin and his team were walking down the streets of Amity Park. It was late already, late enough that the group of teenagers were eyed with distrust from those still out on the street. They were in their civvies, but that didn’t make their group any less strange. Robin especially stood out, wearing sunglasses while the moon was shining above them.

They were quiet as they walked. Robin had asked them to come, but he hadn’t specified why or what they would be doing. He hadn’t said anything on the way neither, in fact they hadn’t heard anything from him since he said that they had to dress in civvies and go somewhere.

The atmosphere was tense when they finally stopped at a park. After a moment, Robin broke the silence with a sigh. He turned to the team – minus Rocket since she was out with Icon- and smiled nervously.

“So, you are probably wondering why I took you here,” he started, nervosity fading away the more he spoke, “Well there are two reasons.” He held up two fingers, and his usual grin was back in place.

“First, I wanted to tell you my identity. It’s not fair that I know practically everything about all of you, but you don’t even know my name.”

Robin wanted to continue, but Wally spoke up quickly.

“Dude, but isn’t Batman-“

“I know.” He interrupted. “But I am telling them anyways. I can’t go on hiding this. Besides, Batman has serious trust issues.”

He rolled his eyes behind the shades, before shoving his hood back and taking off the shades in one fluid motion. “My name is Richard Grayson, but I rather you call me Dick. Nice to meet you~”

He grinned his typical Robin grin as he watched his team mates faces change. Artemis’ face in particular was amusing. Wally was just looking at him in fond desperation. Zatanna and Megan looked at him in awe, while Connor just stared at him like he was trying to memorize every feature he could see in the faint light of the flickering street lamps. Kaldur was silently mustering him as well.

“So, this brings me to the second reason, the actual reason I brought you here in the first place. I wanted you to meet my brother.” He grinned again, this time at Wally’s surprised expression.

“Wait, wait, wait. Your brother. The one you said you wouldn’t look for. That brother.” Wally stuttered.

Robin grinned. “Yapp, that brother. To my defense, he found me. He should actually be here already.”

The rustling of leaves alerted the team. They turned to a tree in sync, just in time to see a black haired teen with the same blue eyes as Dick landing on the ground. He rubbed his neck sheepishly.

“To my defense,” he started, “you were having an important conversation and I didn’t want to intrude.” He grinned at them. “I’m Danny. It’s nice to meet you. Thanks for looking out for my little brother, by the way.”

Robin rolled his eyes at him, grin not leaving his face. Behind him, both Connor and Zatanna frowned. Kaldur stepped forward slightly, a polite smile on his face. He held out his hand for a handshake. “It is nice to meet you as well.” Danny took the offered hand and shook it firmly. He didn’t miss the frown on the others face at how cold his hands were. His smile dimmed for a split second.

An explosion startled all of them. Danny sighed.

“Aaaaand the disaster couple is at it again. Sorry that I have to cut this short, I have to scold some people. “he turned to the direction he appeared from, “get home safe, please.”

He walked into the shadows and disappeared.

“Uhh,” Megan started, “Shouldn’t we help?” Dick smiled at her.

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t need any help. Believe me.”


	7. Into the ghost zone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I accidently parted the one prompt into four mini chapters...

Robin groaned as he held his head. He had a murderous headache, but thankfully no concussion. Their mission had gone spectacularly wrong. It was supposed to be an easy get-in-grab-the-info-get-out type of mission, but something must have tipped them off since Klarion the witch boy had been waiting for them. He had rambled on about an experiment, and when they stepped forward, they foolishly stepped into a strange magic circle. Last thing he knew was falling through a green portal that opened up under them.

He opened his eyes and blinked. Was there something wrong with his eyes? He could only see green swirling around him. He turned his head when he heard another groan and stared right at a red mop of hair. So his eyes were fine, he guessed.

He sat up to see the team sprawled across what seemed to be a floating island in midst of the swirling green. Most of them were awake or at least partly so. With the state most seemed to be in, he couldn’t blame them. That he hadn’t broken anything in the fall was only because he knew how to fall. From what he could see, Wally had at least a broken arm, Artemis leg was bend at a strange angle, Connor and Megan seemed unharmed, Kaldur was holding his rips, and Zatanna was lying down, blood clotting almost unnoticeably in her dark hair. Rocket had stayed behind to be their coordinator, and Robin was thankful for that.

“You are trespassing.” A voice boomed. “You also brought real world objects. It seems like I found a group of criminals.”

Robin stood up and so did Connor and Megan. Kaldur tried as well, gritting his teeth as he stood up. Artemis reached for her bow, Wally was already standing, holding his arm.

“Walker.” Another voice called out and Robin sighed in relief. “What did I say about attacking Humans?” he scolded.

“They are trespassing!” the ghost, a man with paper white skin and wearing a black suit, protested. The young King glared disappointedly.

“They are hardly here out of their free will. If you don’t mind, I will take care of them.”

The man looked like he wanted to protest, but then changed his mind and turned around, leaving without another word. The King flouted towards the small island they had landed on and Robin relaxed.

“Sorry about him.” Danny apologized. The team was still rather tense, tensing up again when the King seemed to muster them. “You’re hurt.” He stated. Robin chuckled.

“Yeah, no shit sherlock.”

Danny smiled slightly, before frowning again. “How long have you been here?”

“Uhh, maybe a few hours? We crash landed on this island and it knocked us out. Why?” Robin answered.

“Because,” he started, seeming troubled, “I was in the human realm, and when I’m there I slow down time significantly here. It might have already been a week since you came here.” Noticing the shocked faces, he continued, “I sped up time, so you don’t have to worry about it now. If you wish, I can inform your Mentors of your whereabouts as soon as your wounds are being taken care of.”

It seemed to assure the team slightly. Zatanna hadn’t moved or said anything yet, though she seemed to be awake. Danny frowned at the head wound. His focus went to Aqualad as he stepped forward.

“We would be grateful if you could do that.”

Danny smiled slightly at him, eyes unknowingly looking ancient. He turned the focus to Zatanna again, then to Artemis. “I suppose most of you can walk. Superboy,” his eyes went to Connor, “could you carry Zatanna? And Miss Martian, is it possible for you to carry Artemis?”

Both nodded and hesitantly picked up their assigned person. Nodding to himself, Danny turned and created a portal. He turned to them again.

“Please follow me.” He said before walking into the portal.


	8. Into the ghost Zone - The talk

The other side of the portal was a huge throne room, decorated in black and white with the occasional blue and green accent. The portal opened near a door to the side, and Danny went there without skipping a beat. He opened the door to face one of the far frozen yetis guarding it from the outside. He smiled.

“We have guest,” he started, gesturing into the room, “could you get Frost Bite and a few healers and meet me at the second infirmary?” The yeti bowed and mumbled an ‘of course, great one’ before hurrying off. Danny turned back to the room, noting that everyone had stepped through the portal, and smiled apologetically.

“We will need to walk a bit more. It isn’t far, but Ghosts do not have a need for infirmaries and I haven’t been there often enough to pinpoint a portal.”

He received a nod in agreement and started walking down the halls slowly. The team followed, with Aqualad in front and Robin behind him. After a second, Aqualad started speaking.

“If you do not mind the question, why do you have an infirmary in your castle if ghost do not need it?”

Danny chuckled. “Well, when I formed this castle and it’s rooms I was very young. And still only half dead.” He explained. “Since I was still half human, I needed one. And I still had a group of human friends that I made the bigger infirmary for, though in recent years I remade it so that I could help humans who stumble into my realm from time to time.”

“Oh,” was Aqualad’s reaction, “I was not aware that one can be half ghost.”

Danny nodded in agreement. “It is very rare. It had something to do with how I… “ He ran out of words, but he didn’t stop walking. He hadn’t expected the conversation to turn to… that so fast.

“Died?” asked Robin in a small hushed voice. Danny nodded again.

“yes,” he said, but it came out just as hushed. “Yes.” He tried again. He knew that the question would be inevitable. In the End it was Kid Flash who asked.

“How did you die?” It was asked in honest curiosity, but that didn’t stop Danny’s blood from going cold. He stopped walking, stopping the team in it’s tracks as well.

“ **Don’t-** “ he stopped himself, taking a deep breath. “Don’t ask that question. To anyone here. Ever.” He turned to them. “It isn’t a question anybody here will want to answer.”

He turned away again and started walking. He could still feel the electricity flowing though him from his first death, the sensation of being ripped apart and put together again while every cell felt like it was on fire and freezing at the same time. He could feel the fire of the explosion the second time he died, the feeling of his body trying to regenerate, to keep him alive while the flames ate away at him, the feeling of hopelessness when he realized that he wouldn’t get out of this alive, but his core continued trying. The feeling of his core, his ice core, burning.

The temperature dropped, but Danny didn’t notice. The team started following hesitantly after him. Aqualad, the ever responsible leader, spoke up again.

“Apologies. We did not mean to be disrespectful.”

Danny chuckled again, but this time it sounded a bit broken. “You weren’t being disrespectful. I can understand the curiosity, however, being reminded of how one died is… painful. I don’t think a lot of ghosts passed peacefully and without pain. Most died a violent death, and so did I.”

He looked at them, and smiled a soft sad smile. “Just please don’t ask again.”

They walked a bit longer before Danny stopped before a door. He opened it and stepped inside the room in which Frostbite and his healers already rustled around. They bowed to him as soon as they noticed him. He stepped further inside the room and waved to the team to step in as well.

“They got thrown in here by a Lord of chaos, most of them are injured, but I would like you to check over those who say that they are not injured as well. I worry mostly about the Magicians headwound.”

Frostbite smiled reassuringly. “Do not worry, great one. We shall take care of them.”

Danny nodded. “Then I shall leave, I promised them that I would notify their mentors that they are safe and alive.” He glanced at the team, who were being brought to the infirmary beds, and then headed off.


	9. Danny meeting Bruce

After aligning the time in his Zone with the human realm, Danny flouted over the Wayne mansion. He didn’t exactly know where the other heroes lived, and he figured that Batman would be the best person to go to anyway. Now he just didn’t know how to approach the situation. Fase into the mansion and search for him, or ring the doorbell. Of course, he could only ring the doorbell in his human form, and that would mean more explaining. On the other hand, coming in human form was a lot less threatening, and he didn’t know if there were any magic traps he would trigger if he just intruded.

Mind made up, he shifted into human form and flouted down to the gate. He flickered into visibility in front of it. Shrugging, he rang the doorbell. An elderly voice answered.

“Hello. May I help you?”

“Uhm, yes. My name is Danny, Dick’s brother. Could I speak to Bruce Wayne please?”

“I’m afraid that he is rather busy.”

“Please, it’s about my brother.”

There was silence at the other end for a few seconds, then he spoke again.

“You may come in.”

Even through the bad speaker at the gate, Danny could hear that the other person was worried. He supposed that that was Alfred, the grandfatherly person Dick had talked about. He looked around while walking up to the house. The front garden was nice, reminding him a bit of Vlad’s mansion. He walked up to the front door to find an elderly man waiting for him, dressed like a butler. He bowed and Danny bowed back slightly.

“I suppose you are Alfred?” Danny asked, and seeing the small glimmer of surprise, explained, “Dick told me a bit about you.”

They entered the estate and Danny saw Alfred nod. “I wasn’t aware that the two of you had contact.” Alfred said, as if just stating a fact and not asking a question. Danny answered anyway. “We didn’t until recently.” He would have said more, but he really didn’t know how to explain how they met again.

“Where did you meet?” asked another voice, and Danny turned around to face Bruce Wayne. That answer was a bit easier. “At Haly’s circus, a few month ago I think.” He watched as Bruce gathered his mask as ‘Brucie’ and interfered before he could say anything.

“Please don’t.” Was the first he said. “I know who you are, I know who Dick is, and I need to have a serious conversation with you. I promised I’d tell their Mentors that they’re fine.”

He watched as the batman persona came out. He guessed it would have intimidated him if he had still been as old as he looked. Now he just looked him in the eye and waited for his reaction.

“Who are you.” Bruce demanded. Danny couldn’t help but answer “Danny.” As if both of them didn’t know what he actually meant. He saw Bruce’s eyes narrow, but instead of demanding answers, he instead asked something else.

“Where is Dick.” Danny answered truthfully this time. “In the infinite realm, Klarion managed to open a portal with magic. The team is mostly fine, a few broken bones but nothing you can’t fix. Zatanna has a head injury though, but that is hopefully fine as well.”

Turning away, he continued. “Could you tell the other mentors that they are fine as well? If I go now, I might be able to bring them to mount justice in a few hours.”

At his nod, he walked out of the door and disappeared from sight.

-

 As soon as he entered his realm, he switched forms again and sped up time. He walked to the infirmary slowly, not knowing what would await him when he arrived and if he would be in the way. Surprisingly, when he arrived, the healers were already packing up. As soon as Frostbite saw him enter, he headed over.

“Great one. We have finished healing them up. However, they should at least have a day’s rest before they return to their realm.”

He looked over to them quietly conversing. Miss Martian, Superboy and Robin had relocated to chairs between Artemis’, Aqualad’s and Zatanna’s bed, Kid Flash was sitting on the edge of his bed, arm in a sling. Danny could feel the magic in the bandages around their injuries. He noted that even Zatanna seemed awake and fine. He walked over, gaining their attention.

“I notified Batman of your whereabouts,” he started, “ he promised to notify the other mentors.” He looked around to see their reaction. Most nodded, Robin looked at him with his brows furrowed. He continued. “Frostbite said you need a day rest, so I suggest you rest and I will get you back to your realm tomorrow. In terms of human hours, the day rest is barely over an hour so you do not need to worry.” That got him another nod. He stood there for another second, before turning and walking out before the atmosphere got awkward.

He walked just a few steps further, before turning and facing the person that had silently followed him.

“Sooo, you met Batman?” Dick asked. Danny rubbed his neck sheepishly.

“Weeeell, technically I met Bruce, as Danny. And told him that I know who you are and where you are… Maybe not the best decision.”

Dick looked at him like he was an complete idiot. “No shit, sherlock.” And Danny laughed a bit nervously.

“He doesn’t know that you’re Phantom.”

“No, not yet.”

Dick sighed. “I’m too tired for this.” He slipped back into the room.

-

The next day, Danny brought them back to Mount Justice, wounds fully healed.


	10. Story time

The sun was shining down on a small park, empty except for a small group of people strewn about multiple picnic blankets. Danny wasn’t sitting on one of the blankets, instead he was sitting against a tree just a few feet away, sketching. His brother was sitting on the blankets nearest to him, chatting with wally. Zatanna and Artemis were lying on a blanket to his left, while Conner and M’gann were to his right. Kaldur was sitting behind Dick and Wally, quietly reading a book.

Danny didn’t notice that Dick had quieted down until he spoke up again.

“Hey Danny?” he called out loud enough to gain the others attention. His voice was both honest and fake innocent. “How _did_ you die?”

His sketchbook and pencil clattered to the ground. He was distinctly aware of his eyes flashing blue and ice forming under him. He guessed that it was revenge for meeting Batman as Danny and leaving Dick to explain, so he took a deep breath and melted the ice again.

“I thought you wanted to figure things out yourself?” he deflected. He knew he should tell his brother, and time had lessened the hurt, but talking about it- he didn’t know if he could do it.

“Yeah, but I think it’s something only you can answer. I found stuff out about your second death but there are only rumors around about your first one. Sooo, will you tell us? Or do I have to bug you until you do?”

Danny shot him a dark look but Dick’s smirk just widened. He looked at the others, though he didn’t know what he was hoping for. A way out of this, maybe? He only saw confused and wary faces, some laced with dread. He guessed they didn’t think he was Danny anymore, or something like that. With what all have them have been through, he really couldn’t guess what exactly they were thinking. He was waiting for them to say something, but got the feeling that they were waiting for him to say something first. His eyes settled on Kaldur as he waited.

“You are a ghost.” Was the first statement he gave off, calm and only a bit imploring. Danny nodded and waited.

“You are dead.” Another nod.

“You _are_ his brother.” “Jepp”

“How?” Danny didn’t exactly know how to answer that, it had multiple meanings, but ultimately he guessed he should start at the beginning. Still, he asked him to clarify.

“How what?” That one sent Kaldur reeling, not knowing how to sum up everything he meant when he asked it. Danny sighed.

“I guess that means story time. I’ll shorten things up a little though.” He watched as most of them got up to face him and sit down confortably. Most of them nodded a bit thoughtlessly while settling and he started when all of them relaxed.

“So, I suppose you know that our parents died when we were young. I was then adopted by a pair of scientists, and well, they are paranormal scientists. They researched the infinite realm that they dubbed the ‘ghost zone’. They spent years on building a portal there, but once they finished it didn’t seem to be working. I was fourteen at the time, and my friends came over to see the failed project. Sam dared me to go inside, and I did. Now, what you have to know about my adopted parents is that as brilliant as they are, they can be a bit scatterbrained at times. Dad had accidently put the ‘on’ button on the inside, and while I was inside the portal, I tripped and accidently pressed it.” He paused and began worrying his lip as his gaze fell to the grass under him. He ripped some strands of grass out thoughtlessly.

His voice was quiet as he continued. “The portal turned on, with me in it. It was designed to rip a rift into space, and… it ripped me apart. The power needed to something like that is… well it’s huge. But since I was inside the portal as it turned on, I was in the space in between the human world and the infinite realm. I couldn’t be alive in a space like that, but I couldn’t die neither. I don’t know how long I was ripped apart and put back together until it was clear that I was both. Alive and Dead. It was my first death, but it felt like I died hundreds of times.” The grass in front of him was too short to rip it out now, so his hands stilled.

“Only my friends know about this. My parents were too busy celebrating that the portal worked to see how terrified we all were. Sam later told me that they could hear me scream, and we weren’t the same after that. We began fighting the ghosts that left the portal, since it was our fault that it turned on in the first place. I met the only other halfa after some time, but we didn’t really ever get along. He cloned me once, so if you ever see a small ghost girl whose name is dani-with-an-I, that’s her. She loves traveling, so I don’t know where she is right now. Anyway. Around half a year after I died, the other halfa had the brilliant idea to let the ghost king out of his sarcophagus- no not phantom, pariah dark. I fought him, and I won though I almost didn’t make it out. A lot of other stuff happened, but that stood out the most I guess. And then I died a second time.”

He paused again, this time looking up. He could see the sympathy and empathy in their eyes, just as he could see that he was giving a lot of information that he was just sorta dumping onto them. He gave them a second before continuing with the rest of the story. “I don’t know who I was fighting back then, inside my old school at night, but one of our stray blasts must have damaged something, a gas line or some machine maybe. I hadn’t slept in days, so I’m sorta hazy on the details. I had just captured the ghost- by drawing them into a small device that kinda looks like a thermos- when the school exploded. I was in the middle of the explosion, and as much as I had advanced healing, the blast and resulting fire burned away on me faster than I could regenerate. I barely managed to freeze the thermos so that the other ghost wouldn’t be helpless in these temperatures, and then the fire reached my core. I have an ice core, so I when it burned…” he fell quiet, the restarted. “When I regained consciousness I was a full ghost.”

He ended the story there. He had dumped enough info onto them for the day.

-

An hour after storytime, Conner spoke up. “So you have a clone? What is she like?”

Danny grinned. “She’s brilliant. She looked like eight the last time I saw her, and it’s been a while since I saw her since I have no way of actually tracking her down. I wish I could though, just to give her the option of settling down. I don’t even know if she knows I’m fully dead yet. But she’s brilliant, so utterly brilliant. She has traveled to probably everywhere by now, getting along on the streets like it’s a walk in the park. She has more street smarts then most people, and she always knows how to read people. Also, she somehow never fails to be kind. I wish I could see her again.”

Danny’s smile was tinged with pride as he spoke, and Dick smiled slowly as an idea came to mind.

-

“So you defeated the Ghost King.” Artemis spoke up.

“But the only King we know of is King Phantom.” Zatanna continued.

“So, I guess what we are asking is…” Artemis trailed off and Zatanna started back up “How exactly did that happen?”

Danny smiled. “Pariah Dark has been the Ghost King for years, but after he turned evil he was sealed away. Phantom is the Ghost King now because of the rule of conquest. ‘Who defeats the old King becomes the new King’. The reason why you only know of Phantom is because he took up all the work that has been accumulating while Pariah was sealed away and time traveled thanks to the help of the spirit of time. Alas, Phantom hasn’t been around for that long, it just seems like he had been.”

Artemis and Zatanna nodded and went back to what they were doing.

-

Ten minutes after the last question, Artemis tensed up. She turned to him.

“You said you have to defeat the king in order to become the new king.” He nodded and smiled, maybe a bit too wide.

“So, since you defeated Pariah Dark, how exactly did Phantom become King?”

He snickered. “Better question. What is Phantoms first name?”

She blinked, then blinked again, then looked him in the eye. He was still grinning his Cheshire grin.

“No. No way. What. Wait, What. You can’t be serious.”

-

It took a few minutes for the others to understand it too, Danny found it hilarious until Kaldur fumbled with his titles, clearly not knowing what to call him now. He took pity on him and explained that friends of his could always call him Danny. He didn’t exactly care about his titles after all.


	11. introspection

A day after the picnic, Dick was laying on his bed and staring at the ceiling. He had abandoned his Homework when he found that he just couldn’t concentrate with his thoughts turning to his brother what felt like every ten seconds. So he had given up after a while and was now organizing his thoughts.

When he first heard- from his brother no less- that said brother was dead, he was devastated. He researched and researched, blaming himself for not being there. But then he saw him again, and again, and somehow the fact that he was dead was pushed into the back of his mind. He would simply forget that his brother wasn’t alive, until something, like his missing heartbeat or his ice cold hands, would remind him again. And even that turned more into ‘my brother changed’ instead of ‘my brother is dead’.

Now that he had asked, he just couldn’t deny it anymore and he wasn’t sure what to do with that. When he had asked that question, he was partly being petty. On one hand, he was hurt that Danny hadn’t told him yet, that he had inadvertently denied him the knowledge when they were in the infinite realm. He tried to not let it get to him, since it was Danny who had gone though stuff and might not even be able to tell it, but in the end he couldn’t help it. On the other hand he was still annoyed because he was interrogated by batman because of Danny. Both of those factors had a part in why he asked him, in front of everyone no less.

And then he heard about his deaths, his two deaths which were long and bad and painful and it still only made him kinder, he just sorta froze. This was what happened to his brother, this was how he died. And for who knows how long he just sat there, frozen as the world continued on, mind racing so fast as he tried to comprehend the information that he couldn’t even make out his thoughts at all. He had turned his focus onto the others then, mostly to keep himself in check just so that he wouldn’t- well he didn’t know actually what would have happened if he had continued to let his thoughts run, but he didn’t really want to think about it.

He had watched the others, categorized their behavior and feelings with a certain aloofness as he acted like he was fine. He knew he didn’t fool his brother, but to be fair, he guessed Danny was looking for it, for the little cracks in the pieces he was trying to keep together, for the fake smiles and stupid jokes. Danny looked older then, so old that he looked like he could see right through you and take apart every lie you ever told, so old that he could tell. Tell what- Dick wasn’t sure. Maybe you had to be a certain age to know that.

So now, acting like his brother was alive was off the table. So what should he do now? Since he couldn’t go back to fooling himself, maybe it was just high time at accepting that he really was just that. Dead. But the traditional meaning was just so wrong, there was no ‘I will never see him again’ because even though his brother is dead, he hadn’t lost him. Maybe he should change his definition then. Shove away the definition of dead, and instead put two others into place. Ghost or Reincarnated. Neither of the two held as much mourning, but Dick was fine with that anyway. He would only mourn changes, and he doubted that that would ever bring anything productive.

With that decided, his mind lightened a bit. It was still trying to pick apart and comprehend what was told, but at least he could divide and organize it better like this. He glanced at his homework again and sighed.


	12. Second unfortunate trip into the ghost zone

Robin sighed as he looked at the swirling green sky. This was the second time that his team, this time including Rocket, Batman and Wonder woman, had fallen into the infinite realm. At least they were prepared this time, as Danny, with help from Sam and Tucker, had prepared bracelets for them that would allow them to fly instead of fall like they did the last time. It was quite hilarious to see Batman’s surprised face when they caught him and flouted to an island. Rockets confusion when she didn’t fall but Batman did was quite hilarious too.

King Phantom flickered into existence shortly after that and promptly voiced Robins thoughts. “Seriously, this is the second time, most humans don’t even ever get here, how do you even manage that?” His annoyance lasted for two seconds until he saw the forms of Batman and Wonder woman tower a bit over them. Wonder woman stepped forward immediately, being the serious ambassador she had been for the past years.

“Apologies for our intrusion, King Phantom. I can assure you it was involuntarily and that we mean no harm to you or any of your subjects.”

He flew down from where he had been hovering to be at eye level with her. He smiled reassuringly and said “I had no doubt that you meant no harm, and I apologize for my bout of annoyance. I was simply put off by the feeling of an unnatural portal and did not mean to imply that you are unwelcome.”

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he shuddered suddenly and his attention turned away from the group and to the green swirling sky behind him. He frowned.

“Apologies. It seems more humans entered this realm.”

This got Batman’s attention. “The same way we did?” Danny shook his head.

“There are three artificial portals in existence, and one of then belongs to a human couple that believes that Ghosts are ectoplasmic constructs without emotions that need to be vanquished at all costs. They just entered… “he trailed off, eyes zeroing in on Batman. He rummaged through his pockets before he found another black bracelet.

“This is the same bracelet the team uses to fly.” He handed it to Batman. “I trust that you won’t build any weapons from this knowledge, even if you do take it apart.” He turned to the whole group. “I need you to get to my castle alone while I try to handle the situation with the Fentons. If you continuously head into that direction, you should be able to see it in about ten minutes, and reach it in twenty. I apologize for being unable to bring you there, but if I waste more time, one of my citizens might be killed or worse.”

He turned and flew away before one of them could get a word in otherwise. With nothing else to do, they headed to the castle.

-

When they arrived at the castle, Frostbite awaited them at the front doors. He nodded to them and gestured them to follow.

“The great one is in one of the training halls. I will bring you there, however I do not think it wise for you to enter until he tells you to.”

From where he stood, Robin could see that both Batman and Wonder woman took offense that the King had gone to the training room instead of waiting for them. He could also see his teammates exchange worried glances. This wasn’t like him at all.

They eventually arrived at the training room, where frostbite nodded to them and left with one worried glance at the door. Superboy’s mouth twisted to a frown.

“I can hear someone crying.”

With that they headed to the door, ignoring that Wonder woman went after them to stop them. When they opened the door, the first thing they saw was white. The training room was trashed, dents and burns littering almost all surfaces, as did the ice that coated the room. Snow seemed to fall, though they couldn’t really see where it was coming from. And in the middle, floating with the back to them, was the King.

They entered the room, and Wonder woman followed after, already apologizing.

“I’m sorry for the disturbance, the children just-“

She stopped when he finally took in the full picture. They watched quietly as Phantom slowly turned towards them. Aqualad took the lead then, ignoring the fact that two leaguers were with them.

“What happened?” he asked, not minding the glare wonder woman send his way. She was about to apologize for his behavior when Danny answered.

“I was too late.” He sounded lost and almost as young as his body made him seem. Tears were still running down his face as he finally looked at him. “They- She- God, she was just a child! How could they?!” he wailed as his hands flew to his face. His voice had raised a bit, but then went back to a whisper. “She was just five years old, she just wanted to wait for her mother before moving on- how on earth could they shoot her- how could they- “He sobbed. He seemed to have forgotten the leaguers in the room staring at him, or maybe he just didn’t care at the moment.

He curled into himself for a bit, but finally pulled himself together when he heard Wonder woman take a step forward. “Apologies,” he said, “I didn’t mean to let you see me like this.” He tried to dry his tears, but more tears spilled out of his eyes. Wonder woman’s eyes softened.

“It’s not wrong to cry when a child dies.” She spoke softly, eyes distant as she looked at him. For a moment, both of them saw how jaded the other was, how much older they were than they looked. Then he sobbed again and looked away. “It just isn’t fair. They laughed about it!” he said unbelieving, “They watched her cry and fade, and made jokes about how well ‘mimicked’ the performance was, how great they were for shooting a child that came up to them to ask them if they had seen her mother!”

His voice dropped into a whisper yet again. “And her mother has barely a month more to live, she was almost done waiting. This just isn’t fair…” He flouted down to the ground, looking as if his strength had left him. It revealed just how tired he was. His tears slowed to a stop.

Robin wished that the adults weren’t there, just so that he could hug his brother and tell him that everything will be alright. Instead the team had to watch as he pulled himself together on his own, unable to do anything. Aqualad spoke up once more.

“What will you do now?” he asked, and then reiterated “A lot of wars and revolutions have started over the death of a child.”

Danny chuckled. “Nothing. What will a war bring us? It won’t get the child back. And if I attack, no matter how justified I feel, I will never be able to tell just who is going to die.” He looked to the side. “I promised myself that I would never let others feel the same pain that I had to. A war won’t protect them, so I’ll just... I’ll just continue to reach out, to try to talk to the scientists, to the government agency, even if it costs my own life, if it protects my people then…” he trailed off, but batman drew his attention to something he said and joined the conversation.

“A government agency.” Danny looked up and nodded. “The GiW, tasked with capturing and experimenting on ghosts. Both them and the scientist couple firmly believe that Ghosts can’t feel pain. Thankfully, both parties are actually horrible at actually capturing ghosts, though the GiW did try to nuke us before.” He shrugged as if it was normal, and Robin came to the startling conclusion that for him it probably was normalcy. Batman narrowed his eyes in the way that Robin read as ‘I am going to do something about this’ and Danny drew his ice in before the forming silence could get awkward.

“Come on,” he called out, “I will make you a portal in the throne room.”

Wonder woman shared a glance with Batman, mentally promising herself that she would do something about this. She wasn’t an ambassador for nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was planning on making a few chapters where Danny meets some members of the team on their own, like he met zatanna and artemis, anyone any ideas on scenarios?


	13. Alliance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to imaginair101 and Natsuki_14 for the ideas!

Months after their second escapade, Batman called the team together for a mission briefing. That in itself wasn’t unusual, what was unusual was that this wasn’t a stealth mission like most of theirs were. Instead they were supposed to handle security at a global meeting that is supposed to finalize an alliance. Batman didn’t specify which, though Robin had a suspicion.

Once the team had arrived, they had spread out on the rooftops. They watched the streets and the people gathering for any disturbances. There was one, but it had already calmed down before one of them arrived. Down on the streets were other heroes, though they were positioned more as symbols. They hoped that there wouldn’t be any disturbances with so many heroes positioned out in the open.

Superman, Batman and Wonder woman weren’t under the ones on the street. Robin wondered if there had been another mission coming up and mulled on the thought a bit to fight the boredom of being up on a rooftop until cheering drew his eyes to the front of the building.

Someone commented that something was happening over the mindlink, and Robin watched as Batman, Superman and Wonder woman left the building. Following after them were multiple representatives of different fractions and nations, and after that, floating confidently, was his brother. Robin relayed this over the mindlink, and everyone could feel the small spike of pride from Aqualad before he hid it from them.

Robin glanced at the streets again, before continuing to watch as King Phantom shook hands with the representatives and the heroes. Wonder woman stepped forward to make the announcement, a long winded speech that Robin didn’t pay attention to. She talked about the infinite realm and about the injustices that had happened against ghosts, then talked about Danny and praising his resilience that he still wouldn’t harm anyone. She painted him as the kind King that he was and then allowed questions.

The questions ranged from serious topics about the little child that died over ‘So how big is the infinite realm?’ ‘…Infinite’ and ‘If it’s infinite, then how do you govern it?’ ‘If they have a problem that they can’t solve in the community they are in, they ask me for help. Otherwise, parts of my realms govern themselves, since I cannot be there at all times.’ To ‘How old are you?’ ‘I turned 219 recently, I think. But I look like 15.’ ‘Why do you look like 15?’ ‘Because I died with 15.’ And ‘Do you have a girlfriend?’ ‘Uhh, no?’.

After the questions turned too personal, wonder woman ended the press conference.

-

After the people dispersed again and their mission was officially over, the team returned to the mountain. They gave Batman the short debrief, since they had almost nothing to report except a few broken up fights of drunkards and the commotion that had stopped and sorted itself out. The team changed and retired to the common area after that, even though some of them could have gone home already. All of them had the feeling that they might have a visitor though, so Robin had already scrambled the cameras and Megan was already baking cookies while Superboy listened for anyone who could arrive. They relaxed for around half an hour until a small portal opened up in the middle of the room and Danny stepped out from it. Robin was glad that he had taken to fiddling with the rest of the security system as well, since so much energy would have triggered an alert otherwise.

Danny looked exhausted. His hands seemed to be constantly moving with nervous energy and he smiled absentmindedly, but his eyes read ‘worrying too much and not getting enough rest’. Not that ghosts needed sleep, but he looked like he at least needed to relax.

“Danny!” Megan called out, “You came just in time! Cookies are done. Do you want one?”

He grinned and changed to his human form, shouting “Sure!” as he made his way around the small island that parted the kitchen from the living room. Wally was already there, trying, but failing to get cookies. Artemis rolled her eyes from where she was sitting on the couch next to Connor who looked a bit stoic. Dick had sat next to Connor, but he had jumped up when his brother had moved and followed him to the kitchen. Kaldur was sitting on a chair off to the right, having read a book before Danny had arrived and was now finishing reading the page so that he could put a bookmark into it. Raquel was leaning against the couch behind Artemis, trying not to show how out of place she now felt with the king running around like it was normal. She was fiddling with her phone and glancing at him curiously every once in a while. Zatanna was sitting on the arm of the couch, chatting with Artemis now. Raquel wasn’t sure where she had come from.

After Danny had gotten a few cookies and praised Megan’s cooking, Dick pulled him to the couch, suggesting a movie night. It caused a lot arguing about what movie to watch in which Danny slipped off to the kitchen to help Megan with the popcorn and the drinks. They used their power to float things around, scaring Raquel when she turned around. When everything was in place, Danny pointed to a movie and asked to watch it, and everyone agreed.

-

Bonus:

Jack and Maddie Fenton were gearing up for battle. They didn’t know how exactly that pest had convinced the government that they aren’t planning on destroying everything in sight, but they wouldn’t stand by and watch as Phantom got more positive publicity. No, they would show the world just what those ghosts really were.

They were marching down the road to the government building, getting some curious stares on the way, until Vlad stepped into their way. He was looking at them in distaste, mouth pressed in a thin line.

“Stop it.” He said quietly, his whole posture entirely too still and tense. He didn’t need to raise his voice for them to hear the words clearly. It was such a contrast to his usual self that both Fentons were temporarily caught off guard.

“Vladdie- “ Jack started but he was cut off by a sharp shake of Vlad’s head. Maddie narrowed her eyes at him in distrust, but he didn’t even seem to want to flirt with her. Instead he looked at them as if he was disappointed, as if they had done some great wrong that they weren’t conscious of. He looked at them, as if he couldn’t find the words to voice his disdain. He held it back instead and leaned back a bit as if he trying to find a semblance of normalcy in his actions. It didn’t help, he was still too still and tense even when he was trying to look arrogant.

“You should leave.” He finally said, and Maddie immediately opened her mouth to refuse, even though his voice now showed a hint of sadness that she couldn’t place. His face morphed more into a frown and he started walking towards them when he noticed her face of ‘righteous fury’. He barely registered the irony in that when he stopped right in front of them. His voice dropped into a whisper.

“Did you ever have actual proof for your theory that ghosts feel no pain?” he asked and both Maddie and jack blinked in confusion. Vlad didn’t let them answer.

“You didn’t. Instead you found proof negating your theory. And you twisted the facts.” He continued, voice still quiet. Maddie shouted ‘That isn’t true!’ but he ignored her.

“And still, even though you couldn’t prove your theory, you still shot that child.” He looked at them with cold, hard disappointment in his gaze. He gritted his teeth in an effort to hide his emotions. These were people, old friends, that he had still held in high regards. He knew that he had put Maddie on a pedestal, but he was surprised to notice that he was just as disappointed in Jack as he was in her. He blamed him for the accident, but mostly he still saw him as a kind idiot. For the both of them, who were most definitely geniuses, to fail so spectacularly and be so cruel… it hurt.

He turned away from them then, and walked past them quietly.

“Leave.” He told them before he slipped away into the crowd.

They left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, this took long to write. I gotta say though, writing the bonus was really satisfying :D


	14. Danny's Death Day part 1

Danny hummed as he checked and rechecked the list. His death day was tomorrow, and he was overlooking and helping with all the preparation and decoration. The whole castle was a buzz of excitement and action, with him right in the middle of it. Pandora’s people promised to handle the food, getting help from various farming villages around who gave them some of the things they grew. Most teenage ghosts who lived alone helped with the transportation of whatever was needed, that included the decoration, the drinks that would most definitely end up being spiked, and the food.

The party would start at the evening and would continue on for the next day until midnight. That way they would celebrate his whole death day.

He had made a few more halls connected to his throne room to accommodate every ghost who wished to come to his party, and of course the visitors that they would be getting. As per tradition, all allies were invited, which included the justice league and the young justice team. Well, the young justice team were unofficial allies, but his court agreed that they still counted. Even Sam, Tucker and Valerie were invited.

Danny couldn’t keep the smile off his face with all the excitement, even though it still felt weird to celebrate his death day. The decorations were all up, and the kitchens were preparing for the food that would soon arrive. The far frozen yetis were the ones tasked with keeping the food cool until it was brought out, and a few flame cored ghosts had agreed to heat it up then. The ghosts of his castle, ghosts who liked to clean or organize, would be the ones to handle the rest.

It was barely three hours before the start of the festivities when Dora arrived and Danny had to give the list with tasks to frost bite. He had promised to make a portal for the justice league, but he still had to change for the celebration before that. Dora was there to help him with that, and to tell him that he looked good and that he didn’t need to worry about anything.

She was already dressed in a beautiful blue dress with red accents to match her eyes and had her hair open in locks fall around her face. On top of her head was a small green crown with a dragon emblem carved elegantly onto it to symbolize her realm. She dragged him off immediately.

Sam and Valerie joined her after an hour, and to Danny’s distaste, they even forced a bit of make up on him. Sam was in a beautiful purple dress and black dress shoes, Danny noticed when he actually had a minute. Her hair was pulled back, with just a few strands framing her face. Valerie had a red dress on that looked like Sam helped with picking it out. She had her hair pinned back on one side and over the shoulder on the other side, giving her a cute asymmetrical look. Tucker probably only had a standard suit on, but the lucky bastard had managed to get ‘lost’ on the way to Danny’s chambers.

When the girls were finally done with him, his hair was gelled back and his crown was on the fluffy tuff of hair. His clothes consisted of a white suit with blue markings around his cuffs and shoulders. There were a few green accents here and there, and some small red accents hidden where most wouldn’t spot them. His cape was the same light blue, but with dark blue accents and his logo on it. He was glad that it was small and on his shoulder blade, since it felt strange to parade around with it when it was bigger. Lastly, they had added a bit of eyeliner and dusty light blue eye shadow.

Danny found it a bit ironic that his outfit had more blue than green, since it was his death day and green stood for ectoplasm, but he was also glad, since blue was one of his favorite colors and fitted him a lot better than the neon green.

-

Time passed and Danny floated to the side of the entrance hall. He had promised to make a portal to the human realm for the justice league and it was more polite, he guessed, to make it in the entrance hall than in some smaller room. After he made it, and rechecked the time, he stepped through and into mount justice.

The room quieted down immediately, all eyes drawn to him. He could practically feel their nervousness. Most of them were in formal wear, excluding Batman who was making his way to him. Everyone else was dressed in suits and dresses, most suits were classic black while the dresses were often in the color of the persons hero costume. Wonder Woman was the odd one out out of the women, dressing in suit pants and a white blouse. Some, like Robin, had masks on to hide their identity.

Danny was glad that Dick was wearing one, since he had grown to be quite similar to his human form. Trying to explain that would be plain awkward. Batman had stopped in front of them and Superman had walked up behind him. Danny smiled.

“Ready to go?” He guessed he should have said something more formal, but he was as excited about this as everyone in this room together. He was hovering up and down softly and his hands were fiddling with each other. His eyes were flitting from one face to another.

“Yes.” Grumbled Batman. Or maybe it was less grumbling and more how his voice just sounded, but Danny thought it really sounded like grumbling. Danny flouted to the side and gestured to the portal, letting the leaguers and their plus one’s pass him, some more hesitant than others. The team held back and waited for the leaguers to go through, before Robin skipped up to him, hugged him and whispered ‘Happy Death Day!’ before taking the hand of his plus one, a girl with red hair, and going through the portal as well. It continued on with Megan and Connor who didn’t bring plus one’s, though Connor would have liked to bring Sphere or Wolf, both who hugged him and already gave him their well wishes too. Next was Artemis, who had brought her sister along. She also hugged him before tugging her sister into the portal with a rare giddy smile on her face. Wally hadn’t brought anybody, but he was hanging on to Artemis anyways and just gave Danny a small quick hug before running through the portal behind her.

Lastly were Kaldur and Raquel. Kaldur had brought both of his childhood friends using Wally’s plus one as well, Raquel had brought someone Danny didn’t know as well. Kaldur also hugged Danny, surprising his friends who had thought he would maybe bow or something equally respectful and indirect. Raquel just waved, clearly uncomfortable with how everybody knew him so well while she didn’t. He waved back awkwardly as well.

With that everyone disappeared into the portal.

-


	15. the party part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This became a lot less funny and a lot more serious than i had thought. Yay, the merits of alcohol...

It started out okay, all things considered. By the time the party started practically every ghost was there. They were strewn out in the halls, chatting and laughing and mostly keeping to their group of people. The festivities started with a small speech from Danny, which ended with an ‘you can eat now, music can play now too’ and a small cheer from the crowd.

He guessed everything went downhill when someone decided to spike the drinks. All drinks were without alcohol since it was Danny’s death day and most ghosts saw him as a child, but some teenage ghosts must have rebelled against that. A few hours and many drinks later, the polite atmosphere had transformed into something more comfortable and festive. More comfortable also meant ‘using powers in abandon’.

Flash especially seemed to underestimate the strength of ghostly alcohol, seeing as he was speeding through the room every once in a while just to be back at where he was, with whatever food he had just gotten. He would be completely lost about what they were talking then. He even did that when he himself was talking sometimes. Wally wasn’t faring a lot better.

Most adults had stopped drinking when they noticed the alcohol, and the rest that hadn’t noticed stopped when Danny rushed through the halls shouting.

“Who the heck spiked the drinks!”

No one answered of course. The team was in another hall. Most hadn’t drunk alcohol and didn’t even notice something was wrong until the effects became noticeable. Only Robin had noticed, having gotten a lesson from Batman about spiked drinks and alcohol, and he had discarded of his drink without his team mates noticing. He was filming M’gann changing her appearance into different ghosts with mild success. He had already snapped a few pictures of Connor, who was lying on the floor groaning about sounds and headaches. Wally was practically everywhere at once and Robin just had to make a selfie for him to drunkenly photobomb it. Kaldur was leaning against the wall, acting like he wasn’t affected when he very clearly was. Artemis was sitting on the floor next to Connor with her sister, talking loudly about which boy was hot and what dresses were great, oblivious that they were making Connors headache worse. Raquel had been gone with her date for a while.

Danny facepalmed when he got into the hall and saw them, then decided to continue searching for the culprit and not deal with that right now. That thought changed immediately when some drunk ghosts started to make a fire by annoying some ghosts with fire cores. Danny decided that that would be the thing he wouldn’t deal with and headed over to the team.

Dick was talking with his date now, though he stopped when he noticed Danny.

“Danny! I forgot to introduce you before, this is Barbara Gordon, the commissioner’s daughter. Barb, this is my brother, Danny.”

Barbara looked at him with her eyes narrowed. It was a much better reaction than what others would have done, so Danny approved of her. Whether she was just a friend or more didn’t matter, she seemed to fit to Dick. Danny grinned and stuck out his hand.

“Nice to meet you!” he said, and his grin widened when she took his hand and gave a smile of her own. She was trying to be friendly, but not to charm him. That gave her extra points. Danny looked back to the fire after that.

“We should probably get your team into the main hall. It’s getting a bit… warm in here.”

Robin chuckled at his choice of words while Barbara looked at the fire on his other end of the hall. Most ghosts didn’t seem to care, some even floated into the flames for a bit of heat. Neither Kaldur nor M’gann would do well with the temperatures though.

“Wally!” Dick called out. The red head stood next to him in a split second. “We’re gonna go to the main hall, you can go ahead if you want.”

The speedster was gone again and Danny hoped that he would stay in the main hall and not go to the other hall. Someone had the brilliant idea to freeze the ground and make an ice rink out of it. Artemis and Jade got up when they heard that they were going somewhere. Kaldur stood up straight too, but wavered a bit again. Dick moved to help steady him a bit and M’gann just floated behind them. Connor couldn’t be moved though, so Danny used a bit of his telekinesis to make him float up and after them.

He led the team to the justice league, and the first thing he did was throw Connor at Superman. Okay, maybe he wasn’t as Sober as he thought he was. But Superman’s face was hilarious and Dick made a picture, so Danny decided to not worry about it. At Batman’s raised eyebrow, probably at the state of the team, Danny facepalmed.

“There wasn’t supposed to be alcohol in the drinks. I’m not even the legal age to drink.”

That got him a lot of surprised looks that he ignored. Just Superman didn’t sent him a look as he was preoccupied figuring out what to do with the teen in his arms. Danny raised his eyebrow at him.

“He probably had a lot to drink, and seems to have a problem with headaches and sensory overload. I guessed that you would be the best to help.” He shrugged at the end, and watched as Superman’s face hardened.

“I’m not his father.” He said with narrowed eyes. Later, Danny would guess that Superman had something to drink as well, but the thought didn’t come to him at all. Instead he could feel irritation rise to the surface.

“I never said you were. But you are the only other of his kind around. You are the only one who can actually help him with stuff like that.”

He watched as Superman set Connor aside and clenched his teeth.

“And what if I don’t want to.”

That threw Danny off guard. He looked at Superman, even as the other averted his eyes.

“Is this… the type of person you are?” he whispered, “You know how he feels, don’t you? To be different. To be alone. To not know what is going on. Except that he has it worse. He has someone who could help him, who knows what he goes through, and who has decided that he isn’t worth it. That he isn’t enough.”

Superman opened his mouth, but Danny interrupted him harshly. “Don’t deny it. That is exactly what you are doing. How you are making him feel. What the heck is your problem?!”

He glared at him, hands clenched to fists at his side. He was aware that he was overstepping. They didn’t exactly know that he was friends with Superboy. He wasn’t supposed to care. But the alcohol was effecting him, and god damn it, Connor deserved better! He knew how it was, being one of two of a kind. Having someone who could mentor him, someone who decided that he wasn’t perfect enough. Because of his genes, something neither Connor nor him could do anything about.

Superman had regained some of his anger at his question, and hissed, “Do you even know how it is to be cloned without your consent. To just- have a child from one second to another? And half of his genes is from the worst man I have ever met, and I should just accept that?!”

Danny’s thoughts flashed to Danielle, to Vlad, and his eyes flickered red. Still, he was a lot calmer when he answered. “Yes. Yes I know what it’s like to be cloned by your enemy. Yes I know what it’s like to a little carbon copy of yourself running around, too like the man that cloned me at the beginning. But- and this might surprise you- I still love her anyway. I don’t blame her for how she came to be. How she got influenced by him. She is just a child. She never did anything wrong. And neither did Connor.”

He took a breath to calm himself, and the red in his eyes faded again. Superman obviously didn’t know what to say, so Danny continued.

“I also know what it’s like to be the only one of a kind. To feel like a freak for having the powers I had when I was supposed to be a normal human. And I know how it feels to meet another one of my kind. Older, stronger. Who could teach me so much, but decided that I wasn’t perfect enough. That he hated half of my genes. Who never cared enough, to even get to know me. Who saw me either as perfect or broken, with no in-betweens.”

Danny sighed. “Just think about it.” He messaged his head as he could feel a headache coming and floated off without a word. Dick grinned in the background, having filmed the entire thing.

-

Meanwhile, Danny was back at damage control. He entered the second hall, which had become an ice rink. He was rather surprised at how ordered it was, though he could see pandora skating to the left, so he supposed it wasn’t that surprising. To the right were groups of people who were already sleeping off the alcohol, but they were placed nicely to the side to let the others skate without worrying. He watched as Pandora picked up someone who had just collapsed and put them to the others.

Their eyes met and he smiled gratefully at her. She returned the smile and finished bringing the collapsed ghost to the others, the turned to him again and made he way over. Once she was in reach, she swept him into a bone crushing four armed hug that he gladly returned. He grinned at her, though he guessed that he wasn’t exactly fooling her. Still, he tried to keep his mind on the problems in front of him.

“Thanks for dealing with… this,” he gestured to the room, “Pandora. I really appreciate it. Someone smuggled alcohol in, but I’m sure you already knew that.” She chuckled at that and set him down gently.

“Of course. I don’t think anyone missed you screaming ‘Who spiked the drinks’, young one. Have you found the culprit?”

Danny shook his head, “No, not yet. But Ember, Kitty and co are surprisingly absent, so… I suppose I should go question them, if I can find them.”

She smiled at him fondly and ruffled his hair, before laughing “I suppose that is a good idea” and disappearing down the ice again.

-

When he got into the other hall, the fire had also calmed down to a controlled level. The one that helped with damage control was no other than Plasmius, who was glaring at the ghosts responsible from where he was leaning against the wall to the side, daring them to repeat that. There was still a fire burning at the opposite wall, but it was longer and thinner, spanning the wall and letting the ghosts put their drinks on fire. Danny didn’t mind since it meant that the alcohol was burned rather than drunk.

When he turned to Vlad again, he noticed that he had moved and made his way over. He stopped in front of him, but he held no hostility. They hadn’t been hostile for at least a year. Instead he gave a small grin.

“Isn’t it rather morbid to celebrate your death?”

Danny chuckled. “Yeah. A bit… Okay a lot. But everyone is really happy to be here, so who am I to destroy the mood? Thanks for handling you-know-what, by the way.” He gestured to the flames and Vlad chuckled as well.

“Well,” he drawled, “You didn’t exactly seem to be ready to handle this, little badger. Fire is my specialty a lot more than it is yours.” Danny guessed that he added the second sentence when he realized how the first one sounded. It had been some time since Vlad had actually tried to talk him down, and Danny guessed that it wouldn’t exactly work anymore. But he was a bit drunk right now, so he didn’t actually know. He cursed that alcohol acted so slowly to ice-cored ghosts, and that he had probably had too much before he finally noticed.

Across from him, Vlad’s face softened at the half-smile that Danny gave him as answer. “Are you alright?” slipped out before he could stop it. To his defense, Danny seemed quieter, and he couldn’t exactly act as if he didn’t hear the fight the other had with Superman.

Danny blinked, before he averted his eyes. “I guess I’m just not a happy drunk.” He evaded, though both of them knew what Vlad meant. Still, the answer held a little undertone that showed just how upset Danny was about it. All of it. Vlad had long since apologized, but he couldn’t help the little pit in his stomach that opened at the thought that his actions were still hurting the boy.

In a split-second decision, Vlad tugged Danny out of the hall and into an adjacent empty room. He just gave himself a second before hugging the boy. He felt him tense and then melt into the hug.

“Vlad…?”

He didn’t let himself feel self-conscious about it. “You looked like you needed that.” He answered, not breaking the hug. After a second he felt Danny burry himself further into him, clenching his hands into his jacket. Another second passed until Danny spoke, barely a whisper.

“It’s just not fair.” He said, and Vlad held on a bit tighter. “He doesn’t deserve that, nobody does. How can _Superman_ of all people- how can he- “He fell silent, then chuckled tearily. “I’m really not a very happy drunk. Sorry.”

Still, neither let go, even when Vlad maneuvered both of them to a couch and let Danny curl up in his lap. He didn’t comment on Danny’s frustrated tears and Danny didn’t comment on the unusual actions of the other neither.

-

Half an hour later, Danny slipped out of the embrace and settled next to Vlad on the couch. He was still wiping away tears, but he was finally feeling better now. He scowled at the thought of alcohol.

“I don’t get how adults can like alcohol. Why would anyone ever want to feel as bad as that?”

Vlad chuckled. “They normally don’t drink that much, Daniel. And if they do, it’s to forget, I suppose. Or maybe because they think they deserve to feel that bad? It depends on the person, I suppose.”

Danny rolled his eyes, then turned to Vlad. “Is it still obvious that I cried?” Vlad raised an eyebrow. Danny took that as a yes. He scowled, but it looked more like a pout. Then he sighed.

“Maybe I’ll scream a bit at Superman again later. You know, to reduce Stress.”

He grinned at Vlad, who gave a bemused smile in return. He most definitely won’t stop him, at least.

Danny’s eyebrows furrowed in though. “How much do you think is destroyed since I haven’t been in any hall in half an hour?”

Vlad’s snort was answer enough. Danny was going to have to do a lot of damage control. As soon as it wasn’t as obvious that he had cried.


	16. The fight

Danny was in the human realm again. It was rare that he went out without anybody setting a specific date to meet, but he had to get out for once. It wasn’t anything bad, he just felt a bit off today. He guessed that maybe hanging out with his brother would cheer him up, so he had made his way to mount justice.

He went Invisible and Intangible as he arrived, having already changed into human form earlier. He passed Connor talking to Superman and another woman, had Wally run through him and passed M’gann baking before finding his Brother in the Training/Briefing Room. He was talking to Batman, though talking might not be the right word.

Dick was shouting. Batman was stoic.

“YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!” Dick screamed. He was breathing irregularly, though the fight had seemingly just begun. Batman narrowed his eyes and stalked forward in a rare show of anger.

“You are a child. Don’t tell me what I don’t know.” He growled, “Continuing to meet him is dangerous.”

“ _HOW_ IS THAT DANGEROUS?!” Dick geared up to shout something else, but Batman’s answer came cutting and silent.

“He is a danger. There is nothing proving that he is your brother.”

“NOTHING-“ he cut himself off and his voice dropped to the same silent growl Batman was using. “There is nothing to prove that Danny is my Brother?! Except, maybe, Memories?! Except that his story completely checks out?! But somehow, my word isn’t enough for you!”

“That is not-“ Batman started, but was cutoff.

“Don’t. That is exactly it. You don’t even trust me!”

The team was eavesdropping from the door, having gathered there since the first time Dick raised his voice. Danny himself was just hovering in the middle of the room, still invisible and intangible.

“That. Is. Not. True. I simply know that Family-“

“Don’t lecture me about Family.” It came out as a growl, and Dick knew that it was a low blow. He rushed out past his stunned team mates while Batman seemed frozen. Danny followed him until they got to the top of the mountain. Dick curled up there and Danny figeted a bit before making himself visible.

“Hey.” He said so quietly it was almost only a whisper. He saw Dick flinch, but ignored it. When Dick didn’t answer he slowly settled down next to him. He curled up a bit too, and waited.

“Bruce wants me to stop meeting you.” Dick explained after a moment. Danny nodded, not that Dick could see it. “Yeah, I’ve heard.” Dick snorted a bit at that, but it was rather humorless.

“You were there then?” He asked, and Danny curled up a bit tighter. “Yeah.”

Danny looked at his brother. He was staring at the ground, face tight as if he was considering something.

“That’s not all that’s bothering you.” He guessed, and Dick looked almost a bit guilty.

“It’s just- he doesn’t trust me on this. At all! How am I supposed to be his partner if he doesn’t even trust me?! I’m not- I’m not a child. No matter what he thinks.” Dick sighed and whispered, “I haven’t been a child since our Parents died.”

Danny knew that feeling. After the first few months, he had realized that he wasn’t a child anymore. He wasn’t innocent and pure anymore. If anything, he was broken. And his brother had been even younger. The “I know.” That he whispered in response was so much heavier than two words should be able to be.

For some time, neither of them said anything. There were thoughts in their heads that they couldn’t speak out, pain that they just couldn’t pronounce. Finally Danny spoke up again.

“I think you should talk to him.” Was whispered. Dick shot him a look, but Danny wasn’t looking at him. He was staring into the horizon, as if he could see something Dick couldn’t. He probably could, enhanced senses and all.

“When I was still alive,” he started, and pulled Dick out of his thoughts again. “I never actually talked with my adopted parents about anything. They were neglective, I have no idea how they actually got the government to let them adopt me. Sometimes, I wondered if the reason they adopted me was the same as a dog-owner adopting a second dog. So that the first one doesn’t get too lonely and loud.”

He was still looking into the horizon, even as he tried to gather his thoughts. There was a point to this, but the memories were threatening to swallow him.

“It’s not like they didn’t care, at least I don’t think so in retrospect. But I never actually talked to them about this. Maybe, if I had, things would have changed, you know? I can tell that Bruce does care, he’s just… not good at this. If you tell him about this, there is at least a chance that he will change for you.”

Dick stayed silent. On one hand, he wanted to insist that it was impossible. That talking with him wouldn’t matter. That it wasn’t the way you handled things with the batman. On the other hand, it felt wrong to say no when Danny had just shared something like that with him. There wasn’t a part of him that though that it would work, but maybe he could at least try? What did he have to lose?

A lot, a part of him whispered. It didn’t specify, it was just a pit of dread. He guessed it made sense, he would have to talk about emotions after all. It left him in a vulnerable position, even if he didn’t think that Bruce would use it against him intentionally. Then again, he couldn’t imagine a way that it wouldn’t hurt. Maybe it would hurt more at the beginning and less later? With the way Danny was still holding on to the pain, Dick guessed that he should at least try to avoid it.

“Okay.” He decided. “I will try.”

That was all he could do for Danny, and Danny smiled like it was all he could hope for.

-

It worked for a bit, but a year after that they had another fight and Dick left. He built his own life, took his own risks. Danny told him that he was always welcome, but he didn’t take him up on it. Robin was given to someone else, and Nightwing took the stage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, I skip forward a bit! That means i can put stuff from the second season into this soon! (Also, sorry for taking a bit long, i had exam week. Enough said.)


End file.
